Pool
Outdoor Pools in Denver
www.denvergov.org
“Someone knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the local swimming pool. I kindly gave them a glass of water.”
The pool is a sacred place. It is a place of joy, presence, courage, and belonging. The pool is an invention where we can experience the wonder of water every summer.
The pool invites playfulness. When you walk or drive by a pool all you hear is joy and laughter. There’s constant smiles and shouting echoing from the water. The pool fosters our imagination. Children become fish and adults become sharks. Little girls become mermaids, and all ages dive searching for pool toys and treasures lying at the bottom of the pool. A pool is where those of us not naturally aligned toward play are drawn into the joy of being wet and the weightlessness of water.
The pool is a place of presence. The pool is a place to play, to read, and to rest in the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the water. To-do lists are left behind. Time is almost suspended when you enter the water. The pool requires our attention. Parents watchfully observe as their babies splash for the first time, their toddlers swim for the first time, or their teens jump from the diving board for the first time.
Courage is created at the pool. The pool is a place of risk and reward. Children afraid of the water enter the unknown. The deep end and the diving board are summer rites of passage where facing fears occur by courageous children every day. The pool is a place for the injured and elderly to exercise to regain strength and mobility. Walking in water is as much of a miracle as walking on water for those learning to walk again.
The pool is a place of belonging. There’s something special about being invited to join a friend at the pool. The joy of the public pool was once a place of painful separation. There are still private pools guarded by gates in our neighborhoods. But, every summer, the people who come together at public pools in our city are reminders of the barriers that have been removed and the important work of integration. The pool is a place where everyone belongs. It unites the young and the old, the thick and thin, those taking a day off work, and those taking a day off from looking for work, Black, brown, porcelain, and bronze. All people in the pool together. Everyone splashing and soaking in a wonderful, giant tub.
The pool is a place to be present and play. It is a place of risk and courage. The pool is a place for people to enjoy being together and belonging to one another. The pool is a sacred place.
Read a brilliant poem about the beauty of our bodies at the pool by poet, Lance Odegard. AT THE POOL WE ALL HAVE BODIES
